If you are among the millions of Christians who
have been deceived into believing that the Holy Sabbath of Almighty
Yahweh no longer exists, read on. This literature has been written in
an attempt to restore the truth unto you as revealed in the Holy
Scriptures, for Yahweh seeks only those who worship Him in truth
(Jn.4:23,24).
The fourth commandment of the "Ten Commandments" reads as
follows;
"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou
labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of
Yahweh thy mighty one: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor
thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor
thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six
days Yahweh made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is,
and rested the seventh day: wherefore Yahweh blessed the sabbath day,
and hallowed it." (Ex.20:8-11).
Yahweh blessed only the seventh day of the week (Saturday). He set it
apart from the other six days as a day of rest from labor. The only
person that has the authority to change one of the Ten Commandments,
written on tables of stone as a sign of their immutability, is the
writer himself, Yahweh. No such command from Yahweh, His Son Yeshua,
or the Apostles, exists in the Old or New Testament to either change
the Sabbath to Sunday (the first day of the week) or to abolish the
Sabbath altogether.
Why, then, do the majority of Christians worship on Sunday? Most do
so because the Messiah rose from the dead on that day. That, however,
is not a valid reason. It is a man-made tradition that causes people
to break the commandments of Yahweh and therefore worship Him in
vain. "Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the
commandments of men." "And he said unto them, 'Full well ye reject
the commandment of [Yahweh], that ye may keep your own tradition.'"
(Mk.7:7,9).
There are those who believe they have scriptural grounds for no
longer keeping the Sabbath. They use three "Proof texts" to support
their belief; Galatians 4:10, Colossians 2:14-17, and Ephesians 2:15.
Following is a true explanation of the meaning and intent of the
Apostle Paul's writings which, incidentally, the Apostle Peter said
are sometimes difficult to be understood. Many people wrestle with
them unto their own destruction (2 Pe. 3:16).
Paul was writing to the Galatians who had been
heathen worshipers of pagan deities before their conversion to
Yeshua. He says in verse 8," . . .when you knew not God [Yahweh],
you did service unto them which by nature are no gods." In other
words they were idolaters who neither served Yahweh nor walked in His
laws. They knew nothing of His commandments and laws except what they
had heard from Israelites living in their city. Verse 9 states that
after they were converted they began to be known of Yahweh, which
prompted Paul's question, which I interpret to mean, "Why do you want
to return to the way you were before you were converted? Why do you
continue to observe days, months, times, and years that were ordained
by pagans? Why do you wish to be slaves to the weak and beggarly
elements of pagan so-called holy days?
It would be equivalent to a Muslim converting to Christianity and
yet, continuing to observe Rammadan or make pilgrimages to Mecca. The
holy days that the Galatians were returning to are comparable to the
false holy days we have today such as Sunday, Easter, Lent,
Christmas, Good Friday, Holy Thursday, Ash Wednesday, all of which
were declared holy by the "mother church" in Rome and not by Yahweh.
Yahweh declared in Lev 23 which days were His holy days.
Think about it; Why would Paul tell us to keep the Feast of
Unleavened in I Cor.5:7,8 and then tell us not to keep any days in
Gal.4:10? Why did he desire to keep the upcoming feast in Jerusalem
in Acts 18:21(the Aramaic Peshitta has this verse) and then tell the
Galatians that they were not permitted to keep any feasts? Why were
the disciples gathered together on the day of Pentecost (Feast of
Weeks) in Acts 2 if that annual Sabbath had been abolished? Consider
also 1 Cor.16:8; Acts 20:6,16; and Acts 27:9 (the fast was on the Day
of Atonement, an annual Sabbath). Paul's custom was to obey all of
Yahweh's laws because he knew the law was not made void through faith
(Rom.3:31).
These verses are used to prove that the weekly
Sabbath as well as annual Sabbaths have been nailed to the cross.
This view is incorrect and is based on several mistranslations, added
words not found in any Greek texts, and poor Bible exegesis.
Let's first determine the context of chapter two. In verses 4 and 8
Paul warns the Colossians about deceivers. Then again, in verse 18,
Paul gives his final warning about these same deceivers. In what way
were they trying to deceive the Colossians? Verse 8 tells us that
they were trying to exalt the traditions of men over the Messiah
(verses 8 & 19).
Notice carefully the context; the traditions of men in verse 8, 18,
and 22. The verses that occur between 8 and 22 must be understood
based on the context of the traditions of men.
Now we can understand the key word in Col.2:14, "ordinances." The
Greek word for ordinances here is a form of the root word "dogma"
which means man-made rules, laws, commandments, precepts, etc. Paul
is not talking about Yahweh's ordinances in this verse. He is talking
about man's ordinances or traditions. This same word is used in
Col.2:20 pertaining to the doctrines and commandments of men; in
Lu.2:1 pertaining to a decree from Caesar Augustus; in Acts 17:7
pertaining to a decree from Caesar; and in Eph.2:15, which we will
look at later. It always pertains to man's commandments, not
Yahweh's. Compare the word dogma with the Greek word that pertains to
Yahweh's ordinances, "dikaioma."
This word dikaioma was used in Lu.1:6 pertaining
to the ordinances of Yahweh and in Heb.9:1,10 pertaining once again
to Yahweh's ordinances. Therefore, Paul is saying in verse 14 that
the traditions and commandments of men are the issue, not Yahweh's
laws. But what was nailed to the cross? The Greek construction shows
that the "handwriting" was nailed, not the ordinances. The
handwriting or, in Greek, the "cheirographon" was a certificate of
debt. Whenever a man sins against Yahweh his sin is imputed against
him (Rom.4:7,8). When men exalt the traditions of men over the
commandments of Yahweh, as the Pharisees did, for example, they sin
against Yahweh. The Messiah became sin for us and when He was nailed
to the tree so were the sins that were imputed against us. Yahweh's
holy ordinances were not nailed to the tree, the certificate of debt
resulting in our death sentence was nailed to the tree. That is why
Paul said the Colossians were "dead in your sins" in verse 13. The
principalities and powers of verse 15 caused the people to sin by
their man-made laws but Messiah was victorious over them.
This brings us to the crucial verse 16. It was the deceivers of
verses 4,8, and 18 that were judging the Colossians regarding the
things mentioned in verse 16. They had been imposing their man-made
commandments and traditions upon the Colossians. Paul told them not
to allow anyone to judge them concerning those matters. An important
addition was made in the KJV that does not appear in any Greek
manuscript. The word "is " in verse 17 was added,
which changes the meaning of Paul's statement. That is why it is
written in italics. Retaining the word "is" implies the thought of
shadow vs. reality. In other words, Messiah fulfilled the shadow of
the things mentioned in verse 16. However, if you remove the added
word "is", it implies that we should not let any man outside the body
of Messiah judge us in respect to these things. Indeed that is in
line with the context of Paul's previous statements. Notice Col.1:18
& 24 and Col.2:19, all of which teach us that the body of Messiah
is the church or all true believers.
There are several other points worthy of mention concerning verses 16
& 17. Verse 17 states that these things "are" a shadow of things
"to come" not that they "were" a shadow that was now fulfilled. Paul
wrote this epistle approximately 30 years after
Messiah's death and resurrection and yet he still spoke of them as
unfulfilled shadows of something in the future.
The final "proof text" to be considered is
Eph.2:15. Again we see the Greek word "dogma" (ordinances) meaning
man-made commandments. Having that in mind let's begin in verses
11-13. Paul explains that before one accepts Messiah as his Savior he
is separated from the commonwealth of Israel, he is without Yahweh,
and he is uncircumcised. However, once he accepts Messiah he becomes
an Israelite, circumcised in the heart, and at one with Yahweh.
Notice what is abolished in verse 15. It is the enmity or the hatred
between the Israelite and the Gentile that was abolished. This hatred
was caused by the commandments and traditions of men. For example,
Paul alludes to a "middle wall of partition" between Jew and Gentile.
This was a literal wall that Paul uses in a figurative sense to make
his point. The Jews decreed,( they made a dogma), which stated that
if a Gentile crossed over the wall separating the Court of the Jews
from the Court of the Gentiles surrounding the temple, that they
would be immediately killed. This was not a commandment of Yahweh. In
fact, Yahweh never even commanded such a wall to exist. That dogma
created a hatred between the two peoples which Messiah destroyed
creating one new man and so, making peace.
I cannot impress upon you enough the importance Yahweh places on the
observance of all His Holy days. Each has a very special meaning, for
example, not only does the Feast of Unleavened picture the putting
away of sin (leaven) from our lives, but it is also a memorial of
Yahweh's great deliverance of Israel from Egypt. Can we, with a clear
conscience, say that such a great event no longer needs to be
memorialized by observing it in honor of Yahweh's great mercy? Do we
no longer need to memorialize the creation of the heavens and the
earth by resting on the seventh day as the Creator gave us
example?
The Sabbaths of Yahweh were given as a perpetual covenant and are a
sign between Him and His people so that they will know who it is that
sanctifies them (Ex.31:13-17). They will continue to be observed
after the new heavens and the new earth are created (Is.66:22,23), so
why not begin now?
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